When we talk of democracy, we typically refer to Western-style democracy. And it brings Lincoln to mind: “[That a] government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
But representative democracy came from Ancient Greece. “In the year 507 BC, the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or ‘rule by the people’ (from demos, ‘the people,’ and Kratos, or ‘power’).
“It was the first known democracy in the world. This system comprised three separate institutions: the ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy, the boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes, and the dikasteria, the popular courts in which citizens argued cases before a group of lottery-selected jurors.
“Although this Athenian democracy would survive for only two centuries, its invention by Cleisthenes, ‘The Father of Democracy,’ was one of ancient Greece’s most enduring contributions to the modern world. The Greek system of direct democracy would pave the way for representative democracies across the globe.” [https://www.history.com/]
In other words, democracy is not a new phenomenon.
Consider: “A 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that only 15 percent of Filipinos were categorically committed to liberal democracy. That means more than 8 out of 10 Filipinos have expressed openness to, if not outright advocates of, more authoritarian rule. This unmistakable penchant for strongmen is the upshot of public fatigue with the absence of genuine democracy. It reflects the hollowness of liberal civil culture in our body politic.
“Our traditional politicians and populists are less Machiavellian geniuses than keen exploiters of this structural reality. Subverting an oligarchy-cum-democracy is far easier than many think, precisely because there are limited institutional checks on any determined despot.” [“Was PH ever a true democracy?” Richard Heydarian, HORIZONS, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14th Jul 2020.]
If in 507 BC, people already figured out the why of democracy, when are we Filipinos going to learn it? Think of why our elders created the characters of Juan Tamad and Bondying.
Consider: “Effectively dismantling oligarchy in the country requires ‘structural reform and overhaul of existing laws’ that allowed oligarchs to persist, Drilon said.
‘Without these necessary structural reforms,’ the senator feared that old oligarchs ‘would only be replaced by cronies.’
“Reacting to President Duterte’s claim he had dismantled oligarchy in the country without declaring martial law, Drilon declared that ‘it takes more than that.’
“Duterte’s recent speech before soldiers, where he boasted about having dismantled oligarchy, raised eyebrows because it came just days after the House of Representatives franchise committee rejected the franchise application of Lopez-led ABS-CBN, dooming the jobs of 11,000 workers.
“Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who insisted the President had not lifted a finger to influence congressmen, was put on the spot by journalists who asked whom Duterte meant when he bragged about defeating ‘oligarchs.’
“Roque pointed to the Ayala and Lucio Tan conglomerates, and the MVP Group, with which Duterte had tussled previously, but insisted that Duterte did not mean the Lopezes.” [Drilon: Dismantling oligarchs is fine, but not if they're replaced by a new set, Butch Fernandez, BusinessMirror, 16th Jul 2020]
Does Duterte bring Marcos to mind? Wasn’t it Marcos that derailed self-government in the Philippines and Duterte is today echoing the Marcos line – of defeating oligarchy, among others?
“Over the past four years, thousands of our countrymen have perished under a scorched-earth anti-drug campaign, which has yet to bag a single real ‘big fish.’ In any democracy, one would have expected million-strong protests in response to such a bloody crackdown.” [Heydarian, op, cit.]
Are we doing a Latin America – nurturing a banana republic?
Consider: After Marcos, Estrada came and then Macapagal-Arroyo and today, Duterte.
Because we, the people, aren’t prepared for self-government? We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism that we rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.
In a prior posting, the blog raised that we have been off base time and again.
Self-government is beyond us, individually. That our instincts will always yield to the crab mentality won’t give us a chance to nation-build.
In other words, because Philippine leadership can’t provide for the well-being of Juan de la Cruz, the answer is LGUs. And that a “weak” Philippines cannot stand a free market, and so the answer is parochialism and insularity. Because a colonizer will always lord it over us, the answer is to kick out the US military.
What do they have in common? We cannot see beyond the obvious – and the present. We cannot see beyond a Juan Tamad or Bondying.
The bottom line: We have continually undermined the building blocks of development, and so today, we are the regional laggard.
The evidence? Assume 13.1 million families see themselves as “poor,” equating to over 50 million Filipinos based on an average family size of 4. The real number is higher, at 4.8.
LGUs cannot erase that poverty mark. Neither can parochialism and insularity. Or a 6%-6.5% GDP growth rate. In other words, even if we recover very quickly from a 3.4% contraction – because of Pandemic 2020 – and get back up to 6%, Philippine poverty will persist.
We have to look beyond the obvious and the present.
With due respect to Sen. Drilon, the challenge of oligarchy is beyond “structural reform and the overhaul of existing laws that allowed oligarchs to persist.”
Consider: Until we learn from our neighbors, open the economy to purposely attract and prioritize the right technology and capital that will turn us into the next tiger economy, the Philippine Competition Commission is not the answer to why the Philippines is uncompetitive.
In other words, to be a tiger economy demands to do our homework and a concerted effort to create an ecosystem that is a virtuous circle. And a Tiger economy is the way to beat the West in their own game. The magic is beyond monetary and fiscal cures. See below, The Competitive Advantage of Nations.
But we must first accept the reality that our world view and our knowledge base have not worked.
Because we cannot separate the wheat from the chaff, we can’t distill the vital few from the trivial many. We confuse “inclusive” to the crab mentality. Why?
Because our caste system is no different from a bunker mentality, recall how the Bush-Cheney team engineered Iraq’s invasion.
Can we pause right there and ponder?
That is why we, in the elite class, hold the key. Our successes as individuals have not translated into nationhood. Think about why our eight top companies can’t match one Vietnam enterprise.
If we cannot bite the bullet, this nation can kiss “tomorrow” goodbye.
Where are our social scientists? We must learn to unfreeze our minds to allow new learning.
It is not a cakewalk. The writer was a regional manager and knew what our neighbors can and cannot do, including the Chinese engineers – and today, they are the world’s manufacturers. But they all wanted to learn badly. And surprisingly, even Eastern Europeans do.
Indeed, there is reason to feel we Pinoys can be better. But we have not demonstrated that for decades. Even Rizal saw that.
Recall the simple questions the blog keeps raising: Where are we? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?
Is nation-building way over our head – because we cannot self-govern?
How do we get over these two hurdles?
(1) “Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]
(2) “Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to ‘tyranny’ loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]
Worse, we face a “chicken and egg” dilemma. Because we cannot forward-think, we succumb to the crab mentality.
And the succeeding generations aren’t assured of a better future either because, in higher education, we are likewise the regional laggard.
We sorely need leadership. But then again, see above hurdles – and dilemma.
The blog has raised that within our respective circles, we can engage in some serious debates. And if we in the chattering classes will then take our role of thought leaders thoughtfully, we can start a national conversation that we can hand-hold until it snowballs.
But if we stay with the status quo, we are confined to this abyss.
Because the spirit of creation is dynamism, not only don’t we know all the galaxies, but they are also in constant motion, mutating and moving farther and farther away.
And dynamism isn’t confined to outer space but is alive and present in organisms in our world, and not only humans. Think of Corona mutating from SARS and MERS to COVID-19.
“Europe said it was pandemic-ready. Pride was its downfall,” David D. Kirkpatrick, Matt Apuzzo, Selam Gebrekidan, Behind the Curve, The New York Times, 20th Jul 2020.
“Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”
Adam and Eve learned that very quickly after their banishment from the garden.
There is no free lunch.
Gising bayan!
“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste.
“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]
“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]
“True social reform has little to do with politics. To unmoor ourselves from the burdens of the past, we must be engaged in the act of continual and conscious self-renewal. All men are partially buried in the grave of custom. Even virtue is no longer such if it is stagnant.
“Change begins when we finally choose to examine critically and then recalibrate the ill-serving codes and conventions handed down to us, often unquestioned, by the past and its power structures. It is essentially an act of imagination first.” [David Henry Thoreau; American essayist, poet, and philosopher; 1817-1862]
“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists. [A] nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]
“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard, and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]
“Development is informed by a people’s worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]
“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]
“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists, and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]
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